Sep 14, 2020 This feature was originally published in 2018, and has been lightly re-edited.
Fans of co-op games on PC are, it's fair to say, spoilt for choice. But even in this heady space, occupied as it is by innumerable classics of the working together bent, there are two games with stand head and shoulders above them all. For my money, at least, Valve perfected co-op nearly 12 years ago with Left 4 Dead. Don't @ me.
Shooting zombies was a tired proposition even way back in the misty annals of November 2008 when the first Left 4 Dead launched. But Valve imbued the project with its familiar brand of magic, and today there are still thousands of people regularly logging in with friends to chop back those same hungry, undead hordes.
The reason for that is not our devout love for popping scabby heads off of rotting shoulders (though that surely plays a small part); nor is it a manifestation of our communal, unquenchable thirst for Valve games - it's thanks to a certain idea hidden deep in the game's bowels.
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